Before Beginning
by CrazyAlwaysClueNever
Summary: A series of teeny, tiny drabbles about the five team members just before joining Torchwood. I'm no good at summaries, read it anyway. Please.


A/N: A series of teeny, tiny, drabbles about the five team members just before joining Torchwood, which is a show that I sadly do not own though I enjoy playing with its toys. Reviews are my addiction, become an enabler.

* * *

Owen

It has been days since he slept. He can't remember the last time. He just sits and watches her sleep and thinks and worries.

It started innocently enough. She couldn't remember what they needed from the store. Then she forgot her keys when she left the house. Then she got lost on her way to work. Then she woke up and asked him why she was wearing a ring and he knew.

He knows something is happening. He knows she's slipping away and sometimes she knows too. He knows he's losing her and he knows there's nothing he can do. So he sits there watching her sleep, wondering if she'll remember who he is in the morning.

* * *

Tosh

There's nothing for her mind to do but wander. Thought and memory and dream looping together into an endless blur. She is no longer sure of why she's here or where here is. She isn't sure she's ever been anywhere else. She thinks she remembers being somewhere else. She thinks she remembers working and someone who loved her. She thinks she remembers being afraid for that person and needing to save them.

She thinks she remembers terror, she thinks that is what brought her here. But how is she to know if any of it's real or not? The solid gray walls around her are real and the voice is real and she is real. At least, she likes to think so.

When the door opens she is afraid to leave. Afraid to venture into the world outside her cell. But she wants to know what's real, so she steps out.

* * *

Ianto

Power. He needs it, a lot of it. Now. He needs power. Lisa can't live without power. He's getting desperate.

He walks quickly through the night, trying to think. At first all he hears is some innocuous rustling of plants, then heavy footfalls, then panted breaths and low snarls. He knows that sound. Instinct and experience tell him to run. Logic holds him back. If there are weevils here Torchwood will be looking for them. Torchwood has power. He has an inside knowledge of Torchwood.

It is dangerous and it is stupid and it is the only shot he has. He slows his pace, considering. Power. He needs it, they have it and there is only one way to get to them. He stops and turns toward the darkness, waiting for it to make it's move. He feels adrenaline rush over him and he smiles. Power is almost in reach.

* * *

Jack

He knows he's had too much to drink. He knows he's making the other patron very angry. He knows the man has a gun. He knows the man won't hesitate to use it. He knows it will kill him. He really, really doesn't care.

He stands his ground in the alley, a gun to his chest and he taunts the man holding it. He pushes on fearlessly, recklessly. Gleefully watching the man's eyes grow larger and his cheeks redder. The man's finger begins to tighten around the trigger and he feels a thrill of anticipation. Excitement bubbles inside him at the outside chance that, this time, he'll actually stay dead.

The noise echoes against the brick walls and a white hot pain sears his chest. He smiles and watches everything go black.

* * *

Gwen

The gun sounds off sharp and loud and she flinches at the sound before her mind registers what happened. Then she realizes the woman before her is dead and and a mixture of blood and brain is spilling onto the pavement. Suzie. That is her name. Suzie. She watches Suzie's blood pour out and her memories pour back in. She looks at Jack, she knows him now too. She tells him she remembers and he tells her nothing.

She remembers but she doesn't know. She doesn't know why this woman, Suzie, did what she did. She doesn't know who Jack is, this man who can survive a gunshot to his head. She doesn't know why this has happened to her or what will happen to her next. She doesn't know what to do.

She wants to run away, to escape. She is dizzy with remembering and not knowing and she feels her knees give a second before she hits the ground. She cannot escape now, even if she could stand, she doesn't know to much. She cannot escape now, she cannot run.

* * *

A/N: Is it me or did they get progressively darker? Oh well, this is what happens when you have to much free time. Review please and thank you.


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